When we last saw Maras, the goddess of death, she had resurrected the Teuton Komtur (Teuton Vol.1, 59-62) and instructed him to go out and find Perkunas' axe before anyone else.
Maras, along with fellow pagan deities Jurate and Velinas, conspires to steal the axe and change the status quo in the pantheon of gods for their own benefit. Each of the three have an agenda, but Jurate has something deeply personal at stake, and means to see their mission accomplished no matter the cost.
However, when Maras' spying owl reports that her nephew Vakaris was slain by Andrus (left), she suspects their plan is ruined. Knowing the death would bring Perkunas back to the mortal realm (Teuton Vol.2, 1-5), it would only be a matter of time before he tracked down his axe and uncovered their schemes to destroy him.With Andrus and his trio in search of the axe on Perkunas' behalf (Teuton Vol.2, 14-15), Maras sees a shrinking window through which to back out with their lives, but has trouble convincing her two partners of their impending doom. A decision must quickly be made...
Page 31 proved a tricky one for me to get down. The last few pages were rife with exposition and talking heads. Maras' bitch slap is the biggest action beat to come before the big troll fight. I wanted it to have impact, not just for entertainment, but to show Maras as the one in charge of her cabal. Below are my roughs and multiple takes on Page 31: "Smack Down". The first draft of this page felt lazy. Aside from the last panel (which I kept), I felt it all needed to be changed.
I love Teuton! You're stuff is so great. I can't wait for book 2. Keep it up, Adam, every page is better than the last
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